8 
the palms and other varieties of vegetation now flour g 
luxuriantly in Africa in latitude 35° N. Dr Hook, in 1705, 
remarked^hat “the fossils found in Portland seemed to him 
to have been the productions of hotter countries ; and it is 
necessary to suppose that England once lay under the sea within 
'"1“ "compute backwards how long ago it is since the 
south of England was in latitude 35° N., where the animals 
and* vegetables found entombed in the Portland deposits still 
flourish As we are now in possession of the exact amount of 
de rate of the terrestrial change, which has been det™ed 
to a fraction of a second, we can safely proceed with our com- 
putations, and thus ascertain, some degree of exactitude, 
the probable age of any given land. About 3,150 years ago, 
the P site on which Greenwich Observatory, stands was about 
20° 28' 30" S. of the parallel of y Ursas Majons, and therefore 
in latitude 35°N„ when the Portland organic remams might have 
flourished, and the deposits have been formed. of on" ner 
part of England, according to the slow rate of change of 20 pei 
annum must have been within the tropics about 5,500 years 
ago Hence England might have risen from the deep within 
the tropics, and produced all the geological depositsfoundon 
it during the last 6,000 years, without allowing for any in- 
creased movement, which it is highly probable occurred during 
entombed m tb, deposit. ofSibrni. 
are the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, bear, by*na hon 
tiger, and others, which can only live and flourish m or near the 
tropics. The fossil ivory is found m deposits like quarries of 
bones, and forms a lucrative article of commerce. Jobokk, 
the capital of Siberia, is now situated m the parallel of 08 
latitude Jj^oi, and Delhi, say in 50° latitude N., 
elephants and tigers still aboun . The 
Tobolsk (site) was in the parallel of 30 j J- 
difference between the two parallels being 28 , the time 
quired to produce this change is 5,040 years. 
4 The flesh of the Siberian mammoth has been found in the 
ice and gravel in so fresh a state as to serve as food for dogs, 
bears, and wolves. Yet it is contended that the deposit must 
be tens of thousands of years old ! . . , 
There are species of tigers and other tropical animals roving 
occasionally as far north as 45°. A tiger was killed in W28 on 
the Lena, in latitude 52i° N. Bears, with long bair aud black 
tigers, are seen within the tropics, as high as the inferior 
limits of perpetual snow; therefore these animals are not 
